Experience with SQL Server 2008! Must be 2008!

[escapeUK]

Whether or not Silverlight itself will survive is another debate: that'll depend on whether there's ever a killer website for it that means people willingly install it as a matter of course, in much the same way as YouTube did for Flash. It's a chicken/egg thing : developers aren't using it, because users aren't using it, because...

I thought it was already dead tbh. Im in a fortunate position, as because of the way I work with my industry contacts, I get people say to me, we want a program that helps us control our "insert problem name". They dont say to me, we want a Silverlight, we want a WPF, we want it in SQL etc.

So I select what I want to work in, which will give them their solution.

The downside of this is that if my industry contacts ever have nothing for me t do, I may struggle with the latest meaningless technology that someone who doesnt understand it just thinks it should be written in.

But a lot of time could be spent learning how to write something in the brandnew plantinumlight only for Microsoft to pull out of it 12 months later.

[Robinho]

I don't know how many times I've had a conversation along the lines of:

Agent: You have experience of C#?
Me: Yes, 10 years, asp.net, winforms etc
Agent: And what about .Net
Me: sigh

[Mich the Tester]

Tell them you have ten years of sql 2008 with five of those working on the beta root nodes

I like beta-root. It's my second favourite vegetable after peas. Red cabbage is third.

[SupremeSpod]

I like beta-root. It's my second favourite vegetable after peas. Red cabbage is third.

Technically peas are a Legume.

Just saying, like, you know, you being a thorough tester 'n all, should know what a pea is...

[d000hg]

Silverlight's certainly not dead. Netflix use it and they're a big player; also BlinkBox just last week announced they're switching TOO silverlight.

Of course video playback is only one tiny part of SL just as it is Flash, but forms 99% of the usage. Until HTML5 supports DRM - which would be deeply unpopular - Flash/Silverlight will remain.

[Gentile]

I thought it was already dead tbh. Im in a fortunate position, as because of the way I work with my industry contacts, I get people say to me, we want a program that helps us control our "insert problem name". They dont say to me, we want a Silverlight, we want a WPF, we want it in SQL etc.

So I select what I want to work in, which will give them their solution.

The downside of this is that if my industry contacts ever have nothing for me t do, I may struggle with the latest meaningless technology that someone who doesnt understand it just thinks it should be written in.

But a lot of time could be spent learning how to write something in the brandnew plantinumlight only for Microsoft to pull out of it 12 months later.

Some people have been saying that Silverlight's dead for years, but I've yet to see a definitive Microsoft statement saying that it's no longer supported. And even when Microsoft have made statements like that in the past, it hasn't always meant that a technology is actually dead – look at VB6. I'm not an evangelist for Silverlight, but I don't think the alternatives are all that.

Whenever someone mentions Silverlight being "dead", it's usually in relation to HTML5 as a competitor technology. Their implication is generally that it's pointless developing in a technology that has a competitor (HTML5) that they feel is likely to become dominant in future years.

Whenever that old chestnut comes up at an interview, I always invite them to visit www.html5test.com, and report how many features of the present (still evolving) version of HTML5 their current browser supports? I then tell them that's how much of the current HTML5 spec they'll be restricted to using if they choose HTML5 now.

It's always revealing whatever browser they use, but particularly if they're using IE, which is decreasing in popularity but still at the present time has the largest market share of any browser. It only supports approx one fifth of the HTML5 spec. So, if you're releasing a commercial product, you need to restrict yourself to that one fifth of what HTML5 can do too, or risk failing to support a critical market share of users.

[nomadd]

In that part-sentence you might unwittingly have encapsulated the economic troubles of the entire western world.

+1

[SupremeSpod]

Silverlight's certainly not dead. Netflix use it and they're a big player; also BlinkBox just last week announced they're switching TOO silverlight.

Of course video playback is only one tiny part of SL just as it is Flash, but forms 99% of the usage. Until HTML5 supports DRM - which would be deeply unpopular - Flash/Silverlight will remain.

We've just completed a system for the South African Market. Customer wanted Silverlight, we gave 'em Silverlight and charged 'em a fortune. However HTML5 will be the platform of choice going forward.

[NotAllThere]

Your mistake is in trying to educate the numpties. Just lie!

E.g.

I work in low-latency messaging. You should try explaining that to an Agent! Usually goes something like this:

Agent: "Do you have any low-latency messaging experience?"
Me: "Have you read my c.v."
Agent: "Er..."
Me: "Try looking at the most recent role..."
Agent: "Oh, yes. Great!"
Agent: "Is that milli-second, micro-second or nano-second?"
Me: All three

Do whatever you have to do to get past the agent to the interview. If the client starts making such silly distinctions, then it's a good sign you'll be able to fleece them.

[tractor]

..

In that part-sentence you might unwittingly have encapsulated the economic troubles of the entire western world.

Yep, but not unwittingly, it's been going this way for years and it's the ridiculous global preoccupation with short-termism and bottom line costs over quality that leaves us seething as consumers and unable to access our funds as bank customers.